Daniel Radcliffe Returns to Broadway in Audience-Driven Every Brilliant Thing

Daniel Radcliffe has returned to Broadway in one of the most unpredictable roles of his career, taking on the one-man play Every Brilliant Thing in a production that relies heavily on improvisation, audience participation and a script that shifts in real time from performance to performance.

Now playing at the Hudson Theatre, the play began previews on February 21 ahead of its official opening on March 12. Written by Duncan Macmillan and Jonny Donahoe, Every Brilliant Thing centres on a man reflecting on the list he began as a child after his mother attempted suicide, noting down the small and profound things that make life worth living. As the character grows older and navigates his own struggles with depression, the list evolves into a deeply personal and communal act of survival.

For Radcliffe, the production represents a fresh kind of theatrical challenge. Unlike a traditional scripted role, Every Brilliant Thing asks its performer to respond directly to the room, involving audience members throughout the show and adapting each performance according to what unfolds in the moment. Some theatre-goers are invited to call out items from slips of paper, while others step into small roles from the character’s life, creating a version of the play that is never quite the same twice.

That element of risk appears to be a major part of the appeal. The production requires Radcliffe to do more than simply deliver a rehearsed performance. It asks him to remain open, quick-thinking and present at all times, especially during the pre-show section, when he moves through the theatre selecting audience members who may later take part. Even with his long stage experience, it is a format that pushes him into unfamiliar territory.

Radcliffe’s return to Broadway comes not long after his acclaimed turn in the revival of Merrily We Roll Along, which ran at the same venue through July 2024 and earned him a Tony Award for his performance as Charlie Kringas. He had not necessarily planned to return to the stage so soon, but the strength of the script, combined with the practical realities of timing theatre work around family life, led him back.

The role also fits neatly into the path Radcliffe has carved out since Harry Potter, one defined by a willingness to seek out unusual, demanding and often eccentric material. Across film, television and theatre, he has repeatedly chosen projects that stretch expectations, from Equus and Swiss Army Man to Weird: The Al Yankovic Story. In that context, Every Brilliant Thing feels like another deliberate leap towards work that is intimate, unexpected and creatively challenging.

At the same time, Radcliffe is balancing the Broadway run with a role in NBC’s The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins, opposite Tracy Morgan and Erika Alexander, continuing his move into comedy on screen even as he undertakes one of the more emotionally nuanced pieces in the current Broadway season.

To prepare this production for Radcliffe, Macmillan revised the script to better reflect his age, background and natural speech rhythms. Even so, the actor must effectively rework the play in his head every night, adjusting to whatever energy, spontaneity or surprise the audience brings. That fluidity is built into the DNA of the piece, whose stage directions specify that it can be performed by anyone, anywhere, with references adapted to suit the performer and location.

Since its first performance in 2013, Every Brilliant Thing has developed a wide international life, staged in a remarkable variety of settings and countries. Productions have ranged from the West End to highly localised performances in living rooms, tents and immersive environments, all underscoring the flexibility of the text and the universality of its themes.

That may be one reason the play has remained so enduring. Its stripped-back format makes it accessible to produce, but its emotional core gives it a much deeper resonance. By inviting audiences into the storytelling, it transforms a deeply personal account of mental health, grief and resilience into a shared experience. The show’s message, that it is acceptable to speak openly about mental health and ask for help, continues to connect powerfully across cultures and contexts.

For this Broadway production, Macmillan and director Jeremy Herrin have taken a carefully structured approach to preparing Radcliffe for that live exchange, even bringing strangers into rehearsals to simulate the unpredictability of audience involvement. While Radcliffe’s celebrity adds another layer to the equation, the creative team has emphasised his openness, courage and genuine warmth as qualities that make him especially suited to the material.

In Every Brilliant Thing, those qualities are essential. The play depends not on spectacle, but on trust, kindness and the fragile chemistry between performer and audience. With Radcliffe now at its centre, Broadway has gained a production that is not only intimate and inventive, but one that asks every room to create the show together, one brilliant thing at a time.

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